Sweet Defeat
by MsMattJeevas
Summary: All the sugar and sweets in the world disappear in a moment. This one-shot shows Mello's and L's reactions. Rated Teen for language and slight adult themes. Romance MxM and LxL /angst/humor.


**So, this **_**was**_** going to be a short fic to put in 'Bits and Bites', but I started writing and it ended up as a full one-shot. I'm happy with the way it turned out though. :D**

**I know I messed up the Death Note timeline, showing Mello in the Mafia while L is still alive, but I wanted to show both their reactions if faced with this situation. So, though there's this little flaw; because they don't interact with each other, I think it can be excused.**

**A small WARNING of language in this one. It's a pissed off Mello, sorry. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything.**

**Genre: Humor(i think it's funny)/Angst/Romance(MxM, LxL)**

**Main Characters: L, Light, Mello, Matt**

**Other Characters: Matsuda, Watari, random Mafia goons**

**

* * *

**

The day everything sweet disappeared from the Earth.

**INITIAL DISAPPEARANCE (4:00pm):**

_-Los Angeles Mafia Base-_

Mello was yelling at some stupid subordinate that had made yet another mistake.

In one hand he had his gun pointed at the guys chest, and in the other was his signature chocolate bar. He lifted the bar to his lips as he deliberated in his mind, whether or not to kill the man.

Just as his teeth came together to bite off a chunk, the chocolate bar disappeared, and his teeth clacked together biting air.

Mello's eyes widened in surprise. He stared at his hand where there lay an empty wrapper with no sign of the delicious chocolate anywhere.

"What. The. Fuck."

Mello squeezed the trigger, shooting the man in front of him, taking some of his shock and anger out on him. Mello whirled around to face the other men in the room.

"What the fuck happened to my chocolate?" Mello screamed. "Who took it? Someone is going to pay for this!"

All the men backed away a few steps as Mello advanced towards them, swinging his gun around.

One man was brave – or maybe stupid – and decided to try to explain what they had seen.

"Mello, it wasn't out fault! One second the chocolate was there, and the next it was gone! Honest, it just disappeared into thin air-"

Another shot ran through the room. "Anyone else want to try telling me lies?"

No one spoke this time.

Mello lowered his gun. "Now," he said in a level voice, allowing the men to relax slightly, before yelling. "Someone get me another fucking chocolate bar!"

_-Task Force Headquarters-_

The headquarters main room was empty apart from L and Light.

L was sitting in front of the computer screens, looking over the various information that was displayed there. He picked up the last sugar cube from the plate and dropped it into his tea, then took the spoon between his thumb and forefinger and began stirring slowly.

Light glanced to L's cup and then away in disgust. He couldn't understand how the man could stand so much sugar in a drink. He took a sip of his black coffee and continued typing away at his own computer.

L noticed Light's glance but ignored it as he eyed the delectable piece of strawberry cake that was placed before him.

"Thank you, Watari." L murmured, feeling his saliva build up at the sight of the ripe red strawberry that sat on top of the icing.

The old man bowed and said, "You're welcome, sir." Then he left the room.

It was quiet for a minute, apart from Light's typing; then Matsuda suddenly came bursting into the room, huffing and puffing, causing L and Light to turn away from their computers.

"What's wrong, Matsuda?" Light asked, concerned at his urgency.

"Ahh," he replied, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Misa Misa got nominated for an award for her last acting performance!"

Light groaned and turned back to his work.

"Matsuda." He turned his attention to L, who continued to speak in his monotone voice. "Please stop interrupting the investigation with your bouts of useless information."

Matsuda sputtered, then fell silent and left the room as L swiveled his chair back to the screens.

L was puzzled for a moment. The plate was still there, and so was the succulent strawberry, but his piece of cake was no where to be seen. He tilted his head to the side in a confused manner, and picked up the plate looking underneath it. He began to look around him; on the floor, across the desk, under the desk, behind his chair, but the cake was no where to be found.

"Something wrong, Ryuzaki?" Light inquired, his eyes still on the screen.

"Did you do something with my cake, Light-kun?" Light noticed a slight variance in L's normally emotionless voice, but decided to ignore it.

He sighed. "I haven't touched your cake, Ryuzaki. I've been sitting over here the whole time, and no one else has approached the desk. You got it five minutes ago, it's right there." He pointed and looked towards the cake.

But, there was no cake.

Light's fingers stopped typing. He was confused; the plate was there, and so was the strawberry, but there was no cake.

"Did you eat it?" he asked L uncertainly.

L narrowed his eyes at Light. "Do think I would ask what you did with it, if I myself already ate it?"

The almost harsh tone of his voice surprised Light. L never put any feeling into his voice, and yet here he was actually sounding annoyed. L turned away from Light and pressed a button on his keyboard, speaking into the microphone.

"Watari, please bring me more cake."

As he waited, L picked up his tea and took a sip. A flicker of emotion passed over his face, and he put the cup back down with a loud clink.

"Ryuzaki?" Light knew that L treated his dishware with care, and the clatter on the plate concerned him. "Is there something else the matter?"

L was staring at the cup, and didn't look at Light when he answered, "Something is wrong with my tea."

Light sighed. "Let me try it." He stood up, walked over to L, and picked up the teacup. He brought the drink to his lips and took a sip. He rolled the liquid around his tongue and swallowed. "It tastes fine to me-" He cut himself off.

It tasted fine to Light. It didn't taste like L had added the entire saucer of sugar cubes into it. He too stared at the tea, wondering what had happened.

"I don't understand," Light murmured.

L put his thumb to his lips. "Neither do I. I put all fifteen of those sugar cubes into it and now it's as if that never happened. As if the sugar never existed-"

Suddenly L panicked, realizing that Watari was taking too long. He pressed the keyboard button again.

"Watari? Where is my cake?" he asked politely.

An old english W appeared on the screen. And Watari's voice came out of the speakers.

"I have some grave news L. When I went to get you your cake, it seemed that it all disappeared. I went to make some more, and all the sugar was gone as well. So, I started to call local cake shops, and they were all in a panic saying that all their cakes and sugar vanished. I just turned on the news and they are currently reporting on the world-wide disappearance. It seems that all sugar and sweets in the world are gone, with no clue as to how it happened. I even phoned some sugar refineries. They said that all of their sugar stock was gone, but the sugar cane remained; and they are still producing sugar just fine. It's just all of the refined sugar at that one moment that had disappeared."

"I see," L murmured. "Thank you for this information, Watari. That will be all."

"Your welcome, sir." And L's computer screen flashed back to normal.

Light wasn't sure what to do as he watched L start to fall apart in front of him.

**AFTER ONE HOUR (5:00pm):**

_-Los Angeles Mafia Base-_

Mello lounged on the couch and eyed the men in front of him. All six seemed to be nervous, and none of them seemed to be carrying the chocolate bar that Mello had demanded an hour ago.

"Well?" Mello demanded, gesturing with his gun for someone to speak before resting that arm along the back of the couch.

The biggest one stepped forward hesitantly. "There is no more chocolate, Mello."

Mello's eyes narrowed into a deadly glare. "Then why didn't you go _buy_ some more? I've been waiting for an _hour_."

"That's the thing," he continued, "we did. We went to the store, but they didn't have any more. They said all of their chocolate and sweets had vanished. So, we went to the next store, and the next, and there wasn't any anywhere. They all said the same thing; that it had all disappeared."

"Really." Mello's face went blank, showing no emotion whatsoever. "Well, that's too bad."

The men exchanged glances, wondering why Mello wasn't blowing up at them.

"I meant, too bad for you," Mello amended, and emptied his gun, killing them all.

When everyone was on the ground in a heap, Mello stood and left the room, quiet and emotionless.

_-Task Force Headquarters-_

Light was worried. He hadn't seen anything like this before, and it was beyond his area of expertise.

He had sent everyone home and had carried the distraught L up to their room. The moment Light had placed L on the bed, L broke down in a fit of tears. He had buried his face in the pillows, and refused to move.

It had been an hour, and L had stopped crying, but he was now in a much worse condition.

He was shaking, so hard that he couldn't even hold the glass of water Light tried to give him. As much as Light didn't mind feeding L the water by lip-to-lip contact; it wasn't very enjoyable when L kept shaking and spilled it everywhere. L kept apologizing, but his constant stuttering seemed to make his mood worse.

Light deduced that the shaking was caused by a sugar-high crash. 24/7 all L ate was either sugary or sweet, which would give him an enormous sugar-high. Because his body's systems were so used to having sugar in them all the time, he was going into withdrawal without it. It made sense, in a weird way, but Light couldn't do anything about it without any sugar to abate it.

Light tried showing L new information about the Kira case to distract him, but that only worked for a minute until saying he needed cake to concentrate. Then Light tried to distract him with _other _things. It worked for a bit, blanking out L's mind, and turning the shaking into pleasured shivers. However, just as Light was about to get to the good part, L's stomach growled rather loudly, and L burst into tears again, saying that he was hungry.

Light explained that L would have to come with him because of the handcuffs, but L refused to leave the room and instead unlocked the handcuffs. Light had protested but L insisted that it was okay.

So, Light went to the kitchen to get him some food, leaving L, who was back to shaking, alone in their room.

He stumbled upon Watari, who was busily making some soup.

"Good timing," Light said, breathing a sigh of relief. "L was just saying that he was hungry."

Watari's face was grim. "Yes, I thought he would. This is about the time that I'd usually give him a large array of sweets for dinner. However, it would seem that today all I can give him is soup and bread with sugar-free jam." He gave the pot a stir and went about buttering a couple pieces to bread, not commenting on the lack of handcuffs.

Light leaned against the counter and drummed his fingers impatiently against it. "Is there any way that we can somehow get some form of sugar product here soon?"

"I'm afraid not," Watari replied. "I've called a number of places, and the soonest they can have it arrive is tomorrow morning around 9 o'clock."

Light turned away from him. "He might not last that long," he whispered to himself.

If Watari had heard, he made no indication of it and just poured out a bowl of the soup and put the jam-covered bread on a plate. He handed them to Light. "Just be with him," he murmured.

Light gave him a serious nod, taking the plates and heading back upstairs.

**AFTER EIGHT HOURS (12:00 midnight):**

_-Mello's and Matt's Apartment-_

It had been about six hours since Mello got back home, and Matt didn't know what to do. Mello still looked the same, but it was like he wasn't _there_.

Matt thought over what had happened since Mello got back.

When Mello had walked in the front door at six, Matt had immediately known something wrong.

He had noticed that Mello hadn't burst through the door, or slammed it shut either. It was a calm and quiet, opening and closing. Matt might not have even noticed Mello come in, being as absorbed in his game as he had been, if Mello hadn't spoke, telling him to turn on the news.

Matt had had the TV on, within milliseconds of the request, had put his game down on the table, and had then stared at Mello. There was something wrong, but he hadn't known what. Matt had watched him carefully, analyzing every movement, gesture, and look that Mello made as he came to sit beside Matt on the couch.

Matt hadn't see any physical differences in Mello, but it had seemed that he was hiding his emotions – really well at that. Mello didn't usually hold anything back from Matt, because there was no reason to hide what you were feeling from the one that loved you. However, Matt hadn't been able to sense any emotion from Mello. It was almost as if Mello had been L, or Near, hiding every speck of emotion from the world around them.

He had been so concentrated on Mello that he had almost missed the newscaster explaining the world-wide disappearance of all sugar and sweets, calling it the _Sweet Defeat_. Matt had then turned to the TV and listened to the whole story in silence. When it was over, Mello had looked towards Matt.

"It's all gone," Mello had said in a flat voice. "All of it. Not a speck left for at least a week while they make more sugar. That means... no chocolate."

Matt had reached out and pulled Mello to him, cradling him, and had wondered why he wasn't angry, why he wasn't on a rampage around the house, breaking every possible thing there. Matt knew that he normally would be, but instead, Mello had been silently curled up against Matt, not doing, or saying anything.

They had stayed like that for quite a while. But Matt ended up having to leave him to make them something to eat. Mello hadn't protested, hadn't agreed, he just sat there, waiting.

After eating they had watched more news, and watched a movie. Matt had taken a shower and then Mello went afterward. It had been when Mello came out of the bathroom after his shower that Matt felt something had changed for the worse.

Matt had been sitting, his back to the bathroom, when Mello had emerged. Matt had been confused because the atmosphere in the room hadn't changed. When Mello entered a room, the atmosphere of it changed, either for good or for bad, it _always_ changed. However, this time it hadn't. Not even a smidgen. It was almost as if Mello wasn't there.

Despite Matt's growing unease, he couldn't have helped being aroused by the sight of the dripping, towel-covered Mello. He had grabbed Mello and towed him to the bed, while stripping him of his towel and planting kisses all over his face. It hadn't been until Matt was on top of Mello, and giving him a deep kiss, that he had realized that Mello wasn't responding to his advances.

That was where Matt was now; propped up on his arms, over top of Mello. He stared down at the lifeless eyes that were gazing right through him. Matt wanted to cry.

"M-mello?" Matt whispered. "What happened to you?"

He didn't reply, and just lay there.

Matt waved a hand in front of his eyes, but they didn't even flicker to acknowledge the movement. Matt tried giving him another kiss, but there was no response on Mello's end.

Matt let out a sob and collapsed onto Mello, tears dripping from his eyes. Mello made no move to comfort him, or to move out from underneath him.

Mello wasn't dead, but he wasn't alive either. He just _was_.

They stayed like that for a bit, but once Matt calmed down, he got up and went to his computer. He needed to fix this, and _fast_. If it was a lack of chocolate that did this to Mello, then Matt would do all he could to get Mello chocolate as soon as heavenly possible. Or maybe that would be hackingly possible in this case.

Matt made quick work of breaking into the nearest sugar refinery's database, found the order being sent to the closest chocolate factory and moved it up close to the top so it would get it's shipment sooner. Then he hacked into that chocolate factory's database and put in an order right near the top, wiring them a large sum of money to make sure they didn't ignore it when they noticed that it wasn't being sent to a retail store. Matt needed it more than them, so they could wait.

He was glad that both factories were working at ten times their regular speed to get the worlds sweets population back up from zero. He checked and double checked shipping times – he'd payed extra for immediate delivery – and figured that it should be there in about nine hours.

Matt sighed. Nine hours of a lifeless Mello. Previously he'd have thought that nothing could be worse than having no video games for nine hours; now, he knew he was wrong. A lifeless Mello was infinitely worse. It was like having a sun that didn't give off light.

It was going to be a long nine hours.

_-Task Force Headquarters-_

Light had thought that the crash was bad; but L without _any_ sugar in his system was freaking him out. It was like all the emotions that L usually kept inside were coming out. One minute he would be happy, the next mad, the next overly excited, the next depressed. Light didn't realize that there were so many emotions that a person could feel until they were being played out in front of him.

L was moving around with more zest than Light had ever seen him have. It was as if the _lack_ of sugar gave L energy, rather than the opposite like most people. You would think that Light could use this to his advantage and get him into bed, but L couldn't seem to concentrate on one thing before switching his attention to something else.

And the _bouncing_.

Even when Light was able to get L to stay in one place, he wouldn't stand still, he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet.

Then there was his _eyes_.

L's normally blank, grey eyes, had more life in them than Light had thought possible for him. They were burning, as if nothing could contain L; as if he could just run off and never return.

This thought frightened Light; he didn't want to lose L. He knew he wouldn't just run off, but Light couldn't stop the unease that built in his stomach. It didn't help that he'd been up 36 hours already and was dead tired.

"L, can you please just come sit down?" Light pleaded gently, patting the couch beside him.

L looked at Lights hand intently. "You're not going to try anything, are you Light-kun?" L asked meekly, blushing slightly.

Light sighed and put his head in his hands. "No, Ryuzaki, I'm too tired."

"Okay," L said, over enthusiastically. He bounced over to him and sat down, pulling his knees up to his chin. "Now what?" He was lightly bouncing on the cushion, wiggling his toes.

"Nothing," Light murmured, leaning against him. "Just sit with me." He let out a yawn and closed his eyes, tilting his head back against the couch.

L hummed a little tune and rested his fingers and chin on his knees, eyes darting around the room. "How about now?"

When Light gave no answer, L turned his gaze to Light's face which was calm and peaceful with sleep.

"What did you fall asleep for?" L asked, becoming annoyed. "You asked me to sit with you, not sleep with you." L's face changed from a scowl to a concerned gaze. "You shouldn't sleep like that; you'll get a kink in your neck, and you'll catch a cold without a blanket."

L moved Light slowly and gently so that he was lying down on the couch, and pulled the blanket from the bed to drape over him. Then L looked around, bouncing again, wondering what he should do. His concern faded, and a sly grin spread across his lips as he eyed the door.

He made his escape and tip toed out of the room.

**AFTER SEVENTEEN HOURS (9:00am):**

_-Mello's and Matt's Apartment-_

Matt thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he heard the doorbell. It was here!

He unlocked the bolt, threw open the door, signed the paper that was thrust at him, and grabbed the box from the man before slamming the door in his face.

"Mello!" he yelled, ripping the box open and grabbing one of the bars. He dropped the box onto the table on the way to the bedroom.

A stab of sadness went through Matt's heart at the sight of Mello sitting on the edge of the bed, staring straight ahead at the wall without looking over at Matt's loud entrance. Matt took one last look at the emptiness in Mello's eyes and was glad that he was going to be rid of it.

He ran over to the bed and plopped himself down beside Mello.

"Eat this," he demanded, ripping open the foil and shoving the chocolate under Mello's nose.

Matt watched Mello's eyes keenly, and let out a little gasp when he saw a flicker of something. Mello's nose twitched slightly as he inhaled, and he reached up to take the bar from Matt.

His eyes still unmoving from the wall in front of him, Mello opened his mouth and bit off a chunk of chocolate.

Matt held his breath as Mello chewed and swallowed. He waited, watching for a sign that it was working.

At first, there was nothing.

Then, there was that flicker again.

Then a spark.

Then it seemed like the life seeped back into Mello. His body tensed like he was ready to fight at any second, his gaze moved from the wall to Matt, and his face morphed into an annoyed scowl.

"What the hell are you looking at?"

Matt couldn't hold back his joy and tackled Mello to the bed, peppering him with kisses. "Oh my god, you're back! You're you! I can't believe it!" he cried happily.

Mello tried to push him off half-heartedly. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm me. Who else would I be?"

Matt stared down at him in confusion. "You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Mello demanded. "What are you talking about?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Matt smirked, dropping his lips onto Mello's.

_-Task Force Headquarters-_

Light awoke with a start. He hadn't realized that he'd fallen asleep. He looked at his watch; 9 o'clock. His eyes widened. The sweets should have arrived.

He sat up, thinking of how thoughtful it was for L to get him a blanket. "Hey, Ryuzaki, we should go get some breakfast," he murmured, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Light was confused when there was no reply. It wasn't like he'd be asleep at this time, and he couldn't be far, what with the handcuffs-

He stopped, looking down at his bare wrist. There _were_ no handcuffs. His mind cleared and he panicked, bolting off the couch. He scanned the room. No L to be seen.

Light's breath sped up and he ran out the door, calling out for L, and searching all the rooms he came across. He feared that his thought earlier had come true; that L had run away without him.

He burst into the main room, seeing it was empty apart from someone sitting crouched on an office chair in front of the screens.

L.

"You make quite an entrance, Light-kun." L's monotone voice floated towards Light.

Light slowly approached L. "Ryuzaki?" He heard the scrape of a fork on a plate. He peered over L's shoulder and saw him scoop up the last bite of cake and eat it.

L swallowed and glanced up at him with emotionless eyes. "Yes, Light-kun?"

"You're all right now," Light sighed in relief. "Thank god."

"I don't recall being ill. Though, I must have been to have un-handcuffed us," L mused.

Light smiled gently, placing his hand on L's shoulder. "You have no idea."

* * *

Meanwhile, the whole Shinigami Realm was overflowing with sugar and sweets, and the Shinigami King was experiencing one huge sugar high.

* * *

**What did you think? Please R&R! :D**

**Basically, the Shinigami king orchestrated a world-wide heist of all sugar and sweets when he found out how delicious sugar was. They stole it all so that it would last the king at least a century without running out, and needing to go back to Earth to get more. (Keep in mind that Shinigami don't mind rotten food, so I don't think moldy food would bother them)**

**Also, I know it is slightly impossible to steal the sugar from L's tea, but I figured that with that much sugar in it, most of it would still be solidified and could be stolen. However, it _is_ a little far fetched, I'm sorry for the flaw in my story. I realized that as I was editing it. I didn't want to take it out cause I liked that part, even if it didn't quite work. **


End file.
